Small coon in coop tonight, r they dangerous?

[Agdketo]

Quote:
I agree. I wish I still had some of the live traps that my Grandpa used to have. They were bigger, homemade ones and they caught a lot of coons. The local flea marker is this weekend is the weekend so I'm going to see if I can find a better trap.

And these are probably the coons that have become educated and won't go into mag16's trap

LOL! That's what one of the local guys at the cafe said - that at least one of them had been caught before. It seems that it has become the town project to solve my coon problem. I live in a small town (pop 300) and someone is always stopping me to offer a suggestion. I also teach here and one of my kids told me today that he and his dad have been working on a plan - lol!​

You could always use conibears. I'd use a 220. But only if you don't have any cats or small dogs that you don't want to die. This'll sound crazy, but make an opening into the run (If you have a run and don't let them free range that is) and stick the conibear into a five gallon bucket with the bottom cut off, and put that in the opening. If the coon wants in there, he should go through... I'm not a pro, but I've heard that works pretty well if you have animals that go around the trap when you have it on a trail. You can look up what a conibear is online. You can get them off of the internet too. It'll pretty much kill the coon instantly. Just do some research.

 

[Mag16]

I have a couple of conibears and steal traps that my grandpa used to use. My grandpa caught one of our cats in one once and he would never use them again. Cat was ok but he did lose some toes. I keep them for sentimental purposes only. Unfortunately for ,me a couple of my cousins had already laid claims to the live traps.

We have a local flea market this weekend so I am going to go and see if they have some larger traps. The one I bought at tractor Supply is the biggest one that my local store sells.

 

[CherylR]

To any new chicken owners that may be reading this thread: Please, please, please check your coops/ chicken runs from time to time for any holes or other small openings/gaps you can find. I had my sweet pekin duck partly pulled out from under my chicken yard fencing (through a very small opening) by what I assumed was a raccoon, and she was eaten alive. I found her stuck part way under the fence with her innards eaten out. The "varmit" had grabbed her leg as she walked past the small opening, tried to pull her out from under the pen, and devoured her from the bottom up. I can't stand to let my mind think of how horrible her death had to have been. My husband and I went around with a fine tooth comb and thought we had secured any and all possible ways for a predator to get in. Two nights later, my husband caught a big, fat momma raccoon and her 2 youngsters IN the coop! She had pushed in the chicken wire fencing we had just so carefully stapled down two days before and got in the coop through the small door that i always left open in the summer!! Ugh! From this experience, we learned to: make sure the wire is attached to the outside of the boards instead of on the inside (so that it is less likely to be pushed in by a predator), to make sure there is absolutely no gaps of any size under the fencing, and to close the coop door securely before nightfall no matter what the weather! Another tip, too, is to be sure that any vegetation is weed-wacked for several feet around the outside of the coop to make it less likely for a predator to sneak up to the fencing. That horrible momma raccoon feasted on my favorite banty hen and one other as her last meal but I learned some very valuable lessons. I'm pretty sure I haven't seen the last of these vicious creatures and will always try to be proactive about coop security! Raccoons may be cute, but they are absolutely deadly to chickens...BEWARE!

 

[chixmom007]

First thing I thought of (with the appropriate music in the background)

Kill the racoon

Kill the racoon

Kill the racoon

Kill the 'coon!

No, I don't hate critters. I just don't like critters that prey on my critters! If they are going to be served as dinner I would prefer them on my plate...

 

[CapricornFarm]

Please folks , get welded wire. Chicken wire keeps chickens in, but varmints can and will break through it. I use chicken wire only inside the boards , and welded wire outside. It makes a three inch gap between layers of wire so it is harder for the coons to reach in and grab. I have had too many dogs rip chicken wire apart to consume all chickens in a tractor. Just get the good stuff and save yourself the grief.

 

[Mattemma]

Little coons are cute killers.They are strong and bend wire.Staples and chicken wire are nothing to them.

 

[JD4570]

Little coons grow up to be big, sometimes huge coons. The earlier the better. Make your coop and runs as hard to get in as possible. Check them everyday by trying to get in yourself, and I mean every square foot of it! If necessary do a night patrol and bag the buggers when you see them. You make it miserable for them it won't be for you.

 

[foxypoproxy]

raccoons are notorious for killing my chickens.
They have tiny hands and anywhere they can fit their hands they will grab a chicken.
My chickens had a raised wire bottom to the outside part of there coop.
It use to be good because then all the food would fall and i would just have to rake it up.
Well i'm never having a coop like that again because the raccoons got into the habit of going underneath, and when the chickens weren't paying attention, the coons would rip there legs off and eat them from the inside out.
Imagine finding that when you wake up in the morning. Its like a horror movie.
raccoons are very smart and sometimes they will work in teams to get the prey they want.
They are also good at opening doors and undoing locks so i always put a few rocks in front of the doors so even if they can undo the latch, they can't move the rock to get to them.

 

[Mag16]

1 down at least 3 more to go!!